Bill de Blasio

Twenty cyclists have been killed in New York City so far this year, doubling the number of deaths from 2018. In response, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled in July a plan to spend roughly $58 million over the next five years to make streets safer for cyclists by adding protected bike lanes and redesigning intersections. This week the mayor said his office is looking into some new ideas: requiring Citi Bike riders wear helmets and making bikers obtain licenses (h/t Gothamist).

New Yorkers applying for affordable housing no longer need to provide credit scores or social security numbers, making it easier for low-income and undocumented immigrant households to qualify, the city announced Wednesday. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development expanded the guidelines of its affordable housing lottery policy to allow applicants to show 12 months of positive rental history instead of a credit check run by a landlord. This erases the need for adult household members to provide a social security number or an individual tax identification number.

A mortgage for the mayor’s home at 384 11th Street came from Wall Street Morgage Bankers

The mortgages secured by Mayor Bill de Blasio for his two Park Slope homes came from a bank linked to a firm that received millions of dollars from the city in a controversial housing deal. The Daily News reported on Monday that the founder of the bank that gave the mortgages to de Blasio is Abraham Podolsky, the brother of Jay and Stuart Podolsky, whose firm sold 17 buildings to the city for $173 million earlier this year. Critics have questioned the deal with the Podolsky brothers, who are known for owning poorly maintained properties, and City Comptroller Scott Stringer called on City Hall to release the deal’s appraisals.

New York City added a record number of supportive housing units and affordable homes for homeless New Yorkers and seniors this fiscal year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday. While the total number of affordable units preserved or created is down to 25,299 this fiscal year from last year’s 32,444, the city said it still expects to meet the mayor’s goal of creating 300,000 affordable homes by 2026.

Update 7/25/19: De Blasio unveiled on Thursday his “Green Wave” plan, which includes spending $58.4 million over the next five years on making city streets safer for bikers. In addition to adding more protected bike lanes and redesigning intersections, the plan calls for a media campaign on cyclist safety, as well as community engagement programs.

Following a recent spike in cyclist deaths, Mayor Bill de Blasio will unveil on Thursday a $58.4 million plan to make streets safer. As first reported by the New York Times, the plan includes constructing more protected bike lanes, redesigning intersections, and hiring 80 new transportation workers over the next five years. The proposal comes after 17 cyclists were killed in New York City so far this year, seven more fatalities than all of 2018.

As the city’s for-hire vehicles (FHVs) rack up nearly 800,000 rides per day, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Wednesday the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s new plan to extend last year’s cap on for-hire vehicle licenses, the New York Post reports. A second cap will be placed on the length of time FHVs can let their cars cruise the city without passengers in the most congested part of Manhattan, below 96th Street. Last August, the city also suspended the issuance of new licenses. The new policies are expected to increase driver salaries by about 20 percent and make traffic in Manhattan below 60th Street six to 10 percent faster.

During a rally at Trump Tower yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio put the Trump Organization on blast as he promoted the city’s Green New Deal. Under the new climate change legislation, which requires large buildings in New York City to dramatically cut their greenhouse gas emissions, eight Trump-owned properties, referred to as “dirty, inefficient buildings,” would cause the Organization to owe roughly $2.1 million in fines annually beginning in 2030. The 27,000 metric tons of greenhouse gasses that these buildings pump out each year is equal to 5,800 cars. After being passed by the New York City Council on April 18, the law is slated to go into effect on May 17.

The city’s plans to create a tech hub at 124 East 14th Street near Union Square have been embroiled in a preservation battle since they were first announced. Community organizations like the Cooper Square Committee and Village Preservation have advocated for the past year that any rezoning should come with protections for the adjacent neighborhood, which is largely residential. As the Daily News reported, Village Preservation recently criticized the city for its lack of transparency in the development process, while claiming that it gave out a “sweetheart deal” based on political alliances and campaign donations.

A judge on Monday approved the city’s plan to open a homeless shelter near Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row neighborhood. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Alexander Tisch dismissed the lawsuit from the West 58th Street Coalition, a group of residents who claimed the shelter would have “an enormous impact on our densely populated, narrow, high-pedestrian-traffic street.” The ruling comes more than a year after Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced plans to open a shelter for 140 single men at the converted Park Savoy hotel, located next to One57, a supertall with a penthouse that sold for $100 million in 2015.

New York City will prohibit the construction of new “inefficient”all-glass and steel skyscrapers, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. Dubbed by the mayor as the city’s version of the Green New Deal, the $14 billion plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2030 as a way to fight climate change. Under the bill, developers would have to meet strict energy codes before getting a building permit from the city. During a press conference Monday, de Blasio said glass skyscrapers that do not meet strict performance guidelines “have no place in our city or on our Earth anymore.”